Too poorfor traffic jams, Netzahualcoyotl, a concrete-block satellite
of Mexico City (right), burgeons with peasants fleeing rural poverty.
A trained midwife who examines an expectant mother in a village
near Puebla (below) may also distribute free birth-control aids under
a government program to reduce one of the world's higher birthrates.
earning $118 a month plus tips-enough to
keep him from drifting to Mexico City.
The mayor of the world's largest city has
his hands full. By the most recent estimate,
8,628,024 people dwell within the 1,500
square kilometers of Mexico City. They
demand water that must be pumped from
distant valleys. They drive 1,300,000 vehi
cles-all of which seem to be prowling for a
parking space at the same time.
But Carlos Hank Gonzilez reckons these
as matters that can be handled with money
and greater efficiency. The mayor is more
concerned with the effect of his jammed
metropolis upon the soul. "When a man
becomes just a number, he loses his iden
tity, his personality,"
he said.
"That's
dangerous."
I waited for the mayor's arrival in a
packed auditorium. TV cameras focused on
his handsome face. Tall, commanding, by
his own estimate a born politician, he obvi
ously enjoyed the spotlight.
The occasion was the investiture of a
neighborhood council. The Federal Dis
trict, which is Mexico City, has no popular
vote; the president appoints the mayor. "We
need to rehumanize the city," the mayor told
me. And one way, he decided, was to give
citizens a voice on such subjects as schools
and neighborhood services. So, last year, he
arranged elections to create 16 councils.
He spoke bluntly to the new advisers:
"People must help themselves. No one else is
going to do it for us." He spoke of corrup
tion, always a problem in Mexico. "Our city
is morally dirty because we let it be that way,
and it will continue that way as long as we
tolerate bribery."
Growing by more than a thousand citi
zens a day, greater Mexico City may now
have surpassed the metropolitan areas of
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